Despair Abyss: A Ballad of Eternal Devotion
by calamaricheeringtime
Summary: Stephana, Carlisle's old fling from his human days, is invited to the Cullen house for the wedding of Edward and Bella. Will Stephana let such a union happen, or will she twist fate to her liking? Rated M mostly for later chapters. E/B for now. Please R
1. The Haunting: Chapter 1

AN: We don't intend any copyright infringement. We do not own Twilight or any of the characters within.

Chapter 1 - The Haunting

I got the letter on a Sunday morning. The post doesn't run on Sunday, so I knew it was something _special_. I was working as a fashion model in New York, and I got more than my fair share of fan-mail. But this really was something different. The gentle scrawl across the envelope was oddly familiar. I opened the delicate pages and unfolded the treasure within.

_My Dearest Stephana,_

_I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you on the television, but I could never forget your face. And it breaks my heart to know that all of my fathers and my efforts couldn't save you, and that you've become one of us. You look just as you did the last time I saw you, that sunny spring day. I've thought about you often, and I'm hoping this letter gets to you with haste. I would love to invite you to stay with my family and me at our home in Washington. I think we have a lot of catching up to do._

_Yours,  
Carlisle._

Carlisle. It had broken my heart when he died all those years ago. Hunting vampires was a dangerous job, but who was I to tell him that his human efforts would be useless against the power of untamed monsters. When he died, I felt like I had died all over again. But he hadn't died. Somehow, they had turned him into one of us; Carlisle was a vampire.

Too many years had gone by since I had thought of him. Being as old as I, your old lovers don't get a chance to come up in conversation. Traveling from place to place, using name after name, I've developed so many lives for myself throughout my long and drawn out history that it's hard to keep them all straight. But Carlisle was the only human I ever told my real name to. He was the first human I had let that far in. I wanted to see him again. I wanted to see him again, but I'd moved on. The love I had with Carlisle was beautiful, but it was the same love I've had hundreds of times. But this was the first time that it had come back to me.

He had a family? I didn't know what kind of trick he was pulling, but it was obvious that he wanted me. Who didn't? I was beautiful. I mean duh, I was a model.  
So, I had decided. I would pack myself a bag and I would be off to Washington. I looked out my window onto the street twenty stories below and saw traffic at a stop. With a sigh, I turned to pack a suitcase for myself, knowing I would need to run to the airport. Waiting in traffic just made me _so_ impatient. I didn't want to stand out in Washington too much, I'm sure all they wear there is lumberjack shirts and overalls, so I packed the least flashy portions of my wardrobe. With a quick sweep of my loft, was out the door and down the stairs, and onto a very busy fifth avenue. I walked quickly around the building, to a much less busy alleyway, then took off for the airport. People could never really tell that I was a _person_ as I ran by at full speed, so I was usually safe.

When I got to the terminal, I tried to wait as patiently as I could for the airplane, and finally I was in the air. Airplanes are a bit difficult for us vampires. Well, not me as much, because I've lived long enough to master my hunger, but for others. With so many scents around you for such an extended period of time, you have enough opportunity to pick out individuals, and determine who smells good and who smells bad. The length of trips always compounds the hunger, because you just sit there, smelling the delicious aroma, and not being able to move. Of course first class, where I flew, was much easier, because the people were in less crowded quarters, and sweat less than poor people.

When we landed in Seattle, the weather was rather dreary, which put a damper on my mood, but also meant that I didn't have to concentrate on being too visible - I was able to control my appearance in the sunlight. I glided through the airport with the grace of a thousand cats, and I swooped into a waiting cab out front. It smelled like fish and gym socks, but Forks couldn't be too far from Seattle. I often forgot that in this era I was a model, and quite a recognizable one at that, so as I spat out the address at the cabbie, I was forced to tip him to keep his eyes away from my ample cleavage. Somehow, men had evolved to think that the more famous a woman is, the more it's okay to gawk at her breasts. If only he had known how many men had jiggled my jugs, he'd probably change his tune.

The ride all the way to Forks took quite a while, but I have all eternity in front of me, so really it wasn't that long. I thought that a phone call to Carlisle would be appropriate, being that showing up just at his door would be ever so rude. The phone rang and rang, and finally a machine picked up. I hoped that someone would be home when I arrived, I was beginning to think that Forks was a town void of a Four Seasons. I blurted out some quick something about who I was and when I would be arriving, and slammed my phone shut with a sigh. I looked out the window and saw a whole lot of green. I forgot how green this part of the world was. I much preferred the dry brownness of the Middle East. I don't do well with moisture.

When we _finally_ pulled through Forks, I was at first a bit upset that Carlisle would have chosen such an ugly place to live, but then remembered that he must have chosen it for its practical applications - he wouldn't have to worry about the sun while the depressing amount of clouds covered the sky, and he was probably the only vampire, or coven, within quite a large radius - probably the only on the peninsula. He wouldn't have to compete for resources. I handed the cab driver a wad of cash - I didn't really need to count it, it probably contained quite a tip. I hopped out of the cab in front of some sort of outdoorsy REI type store, with their sad flannel shirts and silly khaki travel pants, and sniffed the air, trying to catch Carlisle's scent. There were no other people outside, which made sense considering the gross weather. I walked up the street a bit, until I finally caught a whiff, and started to sprint in the direction of his smell. I ran up to a small building - well, small by NYC standards. It was probably the second biggest building in the town, after the high school. A large, blue-and-white sign in front told me that this was Forks Community Hospital. I could smell him inside.The receptionist inside greeted me kindly, but her smile failed when I cast her an Icy glare. "I have an appointment." I said brusquely as I walked past her. I followed his scent until I found a small office, door closed with "Dr. Carlisle Cullen" etched on the front. As I raised my hand to knock on the door, it sprang open.

"Carlisle! You haven't changed a bit, darling!" I flipped my long blonde hair over my shoulder as I gave him the once, and twice, over. Still holding the door open, he was looking me up and down, also, taking in all of my perfection.

"Stephana! Neither have you. I mean," he chuckled, looking around for any evesdroppers, "besides the vampire bit". I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd been a vampire for quite a bit longer than he, so I just laughed and pushed him aside as I stepped into his office, sitting down in the plush leather chair behind his desk. I rocked back and forth in it a few times, and then kicked my feet up onto the desk and relaxed into my seat. Carlise smiled and shut the door, walking around his desk to prop himself on the edge, facing me.

His desk was covered with paperwork, medical journals, and framed photos. I picked up one of the pictures and examined it. It showed a smiling Carlisle with his arms around a beautiful woman who looked just a few years older than him. They appeared to be on a boat. "Who is this?"

Carlisle took the picture from me and looked at it himself. While it had been just about three hundred and fifty years since we'd seen each other, it felt as if it had only been a few days. I knew I would get to catch up with him, and even in his small office I was totally comfortable in close proximity. "This is my wife, Esme. We've been together for over eighty years. She is truly the love of my life."

_The love of his life?_ What was he writing me letters for?

"The love of your life? What are you writing me letters for?"

Carlisle looked up at me, obviously a little shocked by my response. "I saw you on television! You were a human that I dated when I was still human! Do you understand how wierd this is for me? I had to get in touch with you. It was just nice getting in touch with an old friend."  
"Your letter! It just made it sound like..."

"Like I was still pining for you after all these years? Come on, Steph, you're beautiful, but did you really think that we were destined to be together? How long did we date? A month?"

"It was six months!" I my arms were folded across my chest and I had put my feet back on the floor. It had been so long since I'd been around another vampire, around someone who wasn't completely mesmerised my every little move that I made. My beauty had no effect on Carlisle because he was beautiful, too. He was immortal, just as I was. And he was _married_.

"So you actually wanted me to meet your family?" I came all the way out here, so I figured I might as well at least try to have some fun. I should have figured that Carlisle would have moved on; he had no idea that I was a vampire. I had moved on, many times.

"Of course! I think they'd love you. Everyone is at home, now. Except Rosalie and Emmett, unfortunately, but they'll be home for the wedding-"

"Wedding?" What was I getting myself into?

"Yes! Oh! Edward, he's the first one I turned, he's getting married this summer and I-"

"You're in the conversion business?"

"Well, not really, just a few people and I-"

"You what, Carlisle?"

"I get people out of sticky situations. They were all in terrible shape, and I fixed them!"

I didn't want to push much further, so I settled for pulling a mirror out of my bag and fixing my hair and makeup. Since becoming a famous model, I've had to keep up appearances more than normal. I pulled some hair out of my lip gloss and ruffled my hair so it would look sexy and tousled, but just so. I smacked my lips and smoothed out my eyebrow and shoved the mirror back where I found it. Carlisle was looking at me.

"What?"

"Do you want to go meet everyone? I told the nurses I'd have to take off early today."

I smiled and stood up. I bent down to grab my bag that I had thrown on the floor, but Carlisle already had it slung over his shoulder. Vampires.

On our way to his house we drove even further out into the middle of no where. I didn't think a place like this would actually exist, but it does. Luckily the weather had turned just a little bit, so things were starting to dry out. Pulling up to the Cullen house, I smelled someone delicious. I jumped out the passenger side door and sprinted up to the front of the house, but before I could push open the door, the woman from the photograph was standing in the doorway.

"Hello! I'm Esme, it's so good to meet you!" She opened her arms to hug me, I think, but I just pushed past her, looking for my dinner. I followed the scent up the stairs and into the library, and instantly was pinning a pint sized brunette to the ground.

"Carlisle! You didn't have to pick one out for me! I'm better at hunting than you know, but I never could have picked out one this good!" The girl pinned beneath me looked to scared to scream, and there was a beautiful boy ready to pounce on me. I looked around, and realized that suddenly I had five vampires baring their pearly whites in my direction. "I guess... we could share?"

The beautiful boy had me against a wall in a flash, holding me off the ground my my hair. "Leave her alone." He let go and let me fall to the ground. Dinner had found her way off the floor and into the beautiful boys arms. Carlisle looked flustered, but walked over to me slowly.

"Stephana, I think there's some things we need to talk about." He put his hand on my back to lead me into an adjoining room, but I shrugged him off, looking around for where Dinner went. The audience that had just filled the room had instantly disappeared. I stomped into what I was assuming to be Carlisle's office, and flopped down in a chair. Carlisle calmly sat down behind his desk and folded his hands, leaning forward to speak to me. But I decided to speak first.

"What are you doing with my dinner!? After that plane ride I'm ravenous."

"That _dinner_ is Edward's fiancee, and the thing is, Stephana, we don't feed on humans here."

I looked up from picking at my nail polish at his words. His little partner was marrying a human that delicious? And they don't eat people? And what? I couldn't believe my ears.

"But I'm hungry."

"Well, we're all going hunting tomorrow for some big game, and you're more than welcome to come." He leaned back in his chair to wait for my reaction, but he already knew what it would be.

"Ah!" Was all I could muster up, and I just sat there, mouth wide open. Carlisle went on to explain his whole life story, something about blah blah blah inhumane, blah blah werewolves, treaty blah blah. I didn't really care, but I humored him. Essentially, these vampires had fun pretending to be humans, instead of hunting them. I didn't know how long I would be able to last here, especially with Dinner laying around the house.


	2. The Hunt: Chapter 2

AN: So I've written a Chapter 2. My hope is that in the future this will move faster, so bear with us, this won't always be so slow. But I hope it's still interesting. This chapter has a lot more Twilight characters. Enjoy! And please R&R.

Chapter 2: The Hunt

Okay, so I guess it only really makes sense that Edward, being so young and new to vampirism, would totally screw up and fall in love with a human. I would have just munched her down the second I saw her (and almost did), but those new vampires always do things the hard way. But, they weren't yet married, and I was sure my teeth would be in that neck in no time at all. From my spot sitting at a dining room table reading a newspaper, I went searching though the house for Edward. I followed his scent up two flights of stairs, and down a long hallway. I wrapped on the door twice, and then pushed it open. The room was large and dark, and smack dab in the middle was a gigantic bed. I laughed a little to myself and leaned against the doorway, waiting for Edward to turn to face me. Dinner was asleep, curled into a ball against Edwards long, relaxed frame.. He, of course, wasn't asleep, but rather reading a book as he stroked her hair.

"You're not going to get me to kill her, Stephana," Edward whispered, without looking away from the book. "And her name is Bella, not Dinner. But you can call her 'Miss Swan' until you realize that I love her, and we're going to spend the rest of eternity together."

The rest of eternity? I give it until next Thursday.

"Next Thursday is not what I meant by the rest of eternity," Edward put the book down and for the first time met my glare.

I realized that cracking him was going to be harder than I thought.

"You're not going to crack me."

What was this kid doing?

"I can hear your thoughts."

Balls!

"'Balls!' is right, my friend." Edward smiled a cunning smile, flashing his sparkling teeth at me. I folded my arms and rolled my eyes, flipping my hair over my shoulder because it annoyed me when it hung in my face. I wondered if he could hear all of my thoughts.

"I sure can."

I quickly conjured up the image of our two bodies writhing against each other, each of us panting, sweating, still human, and of my bare breasts just inches from his face, and our hair sticking to our necks with sweat. I made sure that in this image, I was screaming his name and moaning wildly, using my hands to force his hips as far between my legs as they would go, that our bodies were pressed tightly against one another, and that our mouths were just close enough that I could just bite his lip --

Back in reality, Edward, obviously more than a little flustered, shook his head and grunted, "Stop!"

I smiled and changed the scene, this time the two of us in the woods, human blood just trickling out of the side of our mouths. Me on top of him, licking my lips and unbuttoning his shirt with my elegant fingers. I was already topless, and he --

"Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?"

"If you're so good at reading my mind, lover boy, why don't you figure it out?" It was the first time I had ever said anything directly to him, and my voice was a little hoarse from the shouting match with Carlisle earlier.

Edward huffed and cuddled himself against Bella and turned his back to me. I rolled my eyes and didn't move from my spot, but did flick my long, golden locks over my shoulder because they were in my face again. What a naive little boy, I though. A beautiful, naive little boy. He was so cute with his human, all curled up and hoping for the best.

"I'm going to turn her, you know. After the wedding."

"Oh, yeah? Why would she ever agree to that?"

"She loves me! And I love her, and we can only spend a lifetime together this way, but when she's one of us, we'll have all eternity!"

"Because you're the most qualified person to house a newborn vampire." I glared, waiting to get a rise out of him. "She'll probably be a completely different person once she's changed, realizing that she is immortal, irresistible to all men and women, having so much power."

Edwards eyes were golden, but angry, and his perfect brow was furrowed, creating the cutest little wrinkles. He untangled himself from Bella and got out of the large bed, and walked into the hallway. I figured he wanted me to follow, so I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, waiting for him to say something.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you think you are doing here, but we're all happy. And we have a plan, and I don't need you marching in here with your perfect face, and shiny hair, and telling me what you think I don't already know. Don't you think I've already thought about all of that? She's insatiable. She won't have it any other way. She'd march right up the the Volturi themselves and ask to be changed! But I don't want that to happen to her, I'd rather do it myself than see someone else do it." Edward sighed.

"Oh, Edward. I'm just here to play nice. And you know, I do have a little bit of pull with the Volturi, and if you wanted me to make some calls, I could guarantee that they will never set hands on Bella. Period. And that's just how nice I am. But I think you really do want to change her, you're just that selfish and you want her all to yourself for the rest of forever. You crazy little boy, how could you pass up something that smells _so good_?" I had a slight smile, and looked down at my manicured nails, picking a little but of dirt from underneath one of them, waiting for Edward to respond.

"'I have pull with the Volturi'," Edward mocked, raising his voice to an unnatural falcetto, "how, might I ask, did that come about? Do some sexual favors for them?"

Oh, he thought he had me there. "Well, if you must know, I created them. And you always keep just a little bit of respect for the vampire that brought you into this world."

"You... turned the Volturi?! That would make you... thousands of years old!" Edward was obviously shocked by the turning of these tables.

"And your point?"

"You were human when you dated Carlisle!" Good one, Edward.

"I was not. He just thought I was. I've perfected passing as human, Edward. I can do it better than all of you. He would have figured out a long time ago that I wasn't human, he just hadn't thought of me until the other day. Trust me, Edward, I am older than you can imagine."

He gave me the once, and then twice and thrice, over, trying to take in that I looked this good after all of these years.

"Vampires don't age, Edward."

"I know! But-- thousands of years old?! What have you been doing all this time?"

I smiled. "You know, a little of this, a little of that. I dated, fell in love, hunted, hung out, read some books. Met some people, created the Volturi, ended some wars, made more money than I know what to do with.

"I don't want to make you hate me, I just want you to realize how silly you're being. And maybe you do need an outside opinion on this, because I know your family just _adores_ Bella, but it's really," I moved towards him, making him back against a wall, moving our faces closer to each other with every step, "very silly". My hands were on either side of him, my cold, hard body was pressed against his, the full contact not making me shiver, like Bella would. In all of my years, I'd mastered the art of getting what I wanted. Our mouths were almost touching and he was just about to give in.

"What are you doing?!" Edward jumped and I turned to see Bella, squinty eyed and disheveled, standing in the doorway. I looked her over, and noticed how pretty she actually was, in a plain kind of way. She reminded me of a lot of the models I worked with, except eight inches shorter. She carried herself well, even in wrinkled pajamas with her hair all askew. I looked back at Edward, but he was already gone, trying to push Bella back into his bedroom, back into ignorance. At least I had confirmation - he wanted me, too. He just couldn't admit it. At least not with her around. Bella was fighting him, uselessly, and began screaming at me.

"Do you really think you can just come in here and steal my boyfriend you cold bitch I should call Jacob and have his werewolf friends tear you to shreds stay the hell away from my boyfri-!" Edward clasped his hand over her mouth in an effort to not draw attention to what was happening. Unfortunately, not only do vampires have super-hearing, but these ones were particularly noisy, and had already formed a gallery at the top of the stairs.

It must have been quite the scene to behold, but they knew everything that had transpired in the previous moments, and I didn't know it at the time, but Alice knew how this whole thing would end up, anyway.

I just stood there and watched Bella work herself more and more into a fit of jealous rage. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed the days when I could flush, when I could feel my heart racing and my palms sweating, and I could feel when my skin was hot to the touch. She lashed against Edward's strong arms, trying to break free of his iron grasp. He tightened his arms around her, reducing her to a red and angry human plank. He whispered something sickeningly sweet into her ear, and she finally relaxed. He let go of her tentatively, and then rubbed his hands on her arms, reassuring her.

"Now, if you'd be so kind as to explain to me _what you were doing with my boyfriend_, I'd appreciate it." Bella was obviously still pissed off at me, and did the same flip her hair over her shoulder thing that I did. I smiled.

"Bella, darling," my voice dripped with sweetness, "we were just talking, getting to know one another. You know, he really loves you, a lot, and would do anything for you. He's such a nice guy." I smiled at her. "Now, I think you need to go have some human time and go back to sleep. We don't want a sleepy Bella in the morning, now do we?" I walked slowly towards her to loop my arm over her shoulders to guide her back into bed, but she stopped me.

"Funny, when I get to know people I don't try and _seduce them_!"

"Is that what you think I was doing? Seducing your poor, little Edward? Hardly. Bella, I've had so many men in my day, I don't even have to try to get the ones I want anymore. Look at me. I'm beautiful. If I wanted to have sex with your precious Edward, I would just do it." Sure, it probably wasn't a good move on the get-Edward-in-bed plan, but it was point one for team earn-Bella's-trust. "Now, we have a long day of wedding preperation tomorrow, and I need to see you downstairs bright and early, and I don't want to hear another word about it. Back in bed, now, come!" I turned her around with a slightly forceful shove on her shoulders, and slapped her ass as she skipped back into Edward's bedroom. She crawled under the covers, still dejected, and rolled over to face the wall. I blew her an overly audible kiss, and shut off the light, and departed, closing the door behind me.

Edward still stood in the same place, not knowing what to do. I smiled at the rest of the family, "Nothing to see here!" And pushed my way through them, trotting down the stairs at twice human speed. I stopped on a landing, "Would anyone like to show me where I can find the big game? I need to eat NOW." All of that Bella-touching had really whet my appitite. Edward stood at the stop of the stairs, thoughtfully examining me, and I realized he had heard my every thought through the whole altercation.


End file.
